open hearts and open doors
by xValkyrie
Summary: Arizona and Eliza are getting closer and closer. Just as deep feelings are revealed, a ghost from Arizona's past returns.
1. sudden interference

"Morning," Eliza said happily as a sleepy Arizona Robbins opened her eyes and yawned. She was on her side watching the blonde as she had just woken up a few moments before. Her hand rested on the woman's shoulder, pushing blonde locks out of the way as she peppered a few kisses along her shoulder and up her neck. Arizona laughed before turning on her side so they were facing each other. "Good morning to you too," she smiled wide before she leaned in to place a loving kiss against Minnick's lips.

The pair had been together for a few months; Eliza would stay the night at Arizona's at least twice a week and Arizona would stay at Eliza's three times a week maximum. Nights were really the only time they could really be together as they were still hiding their relationship from everyone at the hospital, except for De Luca since he lived with Robbins and ended up witnessing and hearing the couple more times than he could count.

Despite having to keep their relationship secret, they were happy. The surgeons at Grey Sloan were slowly warming up to Eliza so they were able to show a little affection towards each other at work; Arizona would bring Minnick coffee during rounds, placing her hand on the woman's arm and smiling at her and when Arizona Robbins genuinely smiled it was like a ray of sunshine to whoever was on the receiving end. Eliza would smile back and then they'd go their separate ways, rarely having any cases together.

After a long day of a fetal surgery procedure, then tirelessly working on a child that rejected a new donor heart just to die on the table, Arizona was exhausted. She sat in the on call room, throwing her scrub cap off to the side as she just stared at the wall. She knew she couldn't get emotional over patients but it was hard not to. She let herself feel the loss for just a moment, letting it go as she let out a deep breath.

Eliza had just finished a knee replacement, having had a pretty good day; there were no deaths for her and Edwards led the procedure without any complications. It was a Friday night, which usually meant Minnick and Robbins would spend the night at the latter's house and binge watch Shameless until they fell asleep. Yet when Eliza checked her phone, she didn't see the usual text from Arizona. The only notification she had was from Edwards, who texted her "heck yea 8)". She asked around, hoping someone would have an idea where the Pediatric Surgeon was. Luckily, a nurse saw Robbins, still in scrubs, on the elevator about thirty minutes ago.

Although she appreciated the information the nurse gave her, it wasn't very helpful. The hospital had a lot of floors to it and she didn't say if Arizona was going up or down on the elevator or if she knew which floor she was going to. Eliza searched the cafeteria first, knowing the blonde sometimes liked to smuggle some pudding or jello for her patients at the end of the night. When she didn't find her there, she went to the on call rooms where she finally found her. "Hey," she said softly, noticing Arizona didn't quite seem like herself. She slowly walked towards her, sitting on the bed besides her. "You okay?" she asked.

Arizona just leaned her head on the dark-haired woman's shoulder, closing her eyes as she allowed herself to relax. "I lost a child today," she spoke with a slight crack in her voice at the last word, "I haven't let myself feel a loss in so long… I mean – there haven't really been any loses in so long... not since," she stopped talking and opened her eyes, picking her head up. "Sorry," she continued. The last time a child died that was in Robbins' care was the night Minnick lost a child patient for the first time – the first night the two actually bonded.

Minnick swallowed a lump in her throat before she wrapped an arm around the blonde, pecking her on the cheek. "Remember what you told me?" she asked Arizona who looked over at her, the pair meeting eyes, "take your time and then we'll get through this together," she continued as she took the woman's hand into her own. Arizona just smiled lightly, her head resting back on the woman's shoulder.

"There's no way Lip isn't going to get caught!" Arizona laughed, sitting up in bed next to Eliza, who was stealing the bowl of popcorn from her and laughing as she nudged the blonde's shoulder. "He's _so_ getting away with it!" she replied.

Sure enough, he got away with it and Arizona let out a loud "what," which Eliza responded to with and "I told you so," which of course Arizona responded with "oh, shut up," as she narrowed her eyes at the dark haired woman who just smiled as the blonde scrunched her nose up. Eliza put the bowl of popcorn on the nightstand of Arizona's bedroom, crawling over to straddle her waist. She wrapped her arms around Arizona's neck, pulling her closer as she leaned down to press a soft kiss against her lips. This kiss was different than any previous one they shared; this one was light and careful but quickly turned deep and longing. As soon as the blonde parted her lips, her tongue was met by the other woman's, battling for dominance as a fire started burning in both of them.

Before things started getting too sultry, Minnick pulled back as she rested her forehead against Robbins'. She just smiled, closing her eyes after she unraveled her arms from around the woman's neck, their hands meeting and fingers intertwining carefully. Arizona let their hands rest against the bed as she closed her eyes as well, breathing in Eliza.

"I love you," Eliza breathed out, the words filling the silence. Arizona was surprised but delighted to hear the words, about to return the words to her but being interrupted as she was startled by a loud knock on her door. Eliza opened her eyes as Arizona did, moving off of her lap to allow her to get up. "Be right back," the blonde smiled, placing a kiss on the woman's lips before climbing out of the bed and walking to the door.

She opened the door and she thought her eyes were fooling her at first. Her heart sank and she was at a loss for words.

"Calliope," she finally spoke.


	2. hostile hearts

"Arizona," Callie responded happily, pulling the smaller woman in for a tight embrace. Arizona awkwardly hugged her ex back, pulling away after as she just looked at her in shock. They hadn't seen each other for nearly a year and she hadn't seen her own daughter in months as Callie always claimed she was too busy. When she didn't see Sofia with Callie, she just sighed in discontent.

"What are you doing here?" Robbins asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she stood tall in her pajamas. She didn't hate the woman, she could never hate her, but she definitely had her reservations. "I mean – I'd get it if you were just in Seattle for a consult but why come _here_ … to _my_ place?"

Callie stood in the doorframe, mimicking Arizona's pose by crossing her arms over her chest as well. "Hunt asked for my help repairing a soldier's leg and easing him into rehabilitation. He was telling me what was going on in the hospital and apparently things are pretty chaotic and he didn't want to ask the new ortho surgeon," she laughed and shook her head. "Minnick, I think? I asked Grey for her opinion on her and she wasn't too impressed."

Eliza sat in the bedroom as she heard the two women speak, her heart sinking as she realized who the guest was and then when she heard what other people thought of her. She knew she was a damned good surgeon but it hurt to know her fellow Attendings didn't think too highly of her. She opened the drawer that Arizona had deemed "Eliza's Stuff" and changed into casual clothes so she wasn't in her pajamas. She then put on a black overcoat and grabbed some papers that were lying around so that she could make a quick exit and make it seem like it was just a business meeting.

Arizona rolled her eyes when she heard Torres speak about Eliza; it was typical that Meredith would have a problem with her still, but she didn't think Owen would. "But why the hell are you _here_?" She asked again, this time in a harsher, angrier tone. She was protective of Eliza and got defensive when people spoke badly about her, which was pretty much a daily issue. "Why don't you go bother Grey since your head's so far up her –"The blonde paused, regaining her composure. "Where's Sofia?" she asked calmly.

Callie swallowed a lump in her throat, "back in New York with Penny." That was enough to set Arizona over the edge. She came all the way back to Seattle – back to Arizona – and she couldn't bring their daughter?

"You come all the way back here and you don't even bring Sofia? You don't even bother to call and tell me you're coming? You're free all of a sudden to come here and help Hunt but you're _so_ busy when I want to see _my_ daughter that I haven't seen her in months! What the hell, Callie?" Robbins hadn't been this angry since she thought Callie was the one that took her leg. She let her daughter go with her other mother to New York to be in a great school, even when she knew she would miss her every single moment of every single day – even when she didn't like that Callie's girlfriend was going to be a big part of Sofia's life – even after Callie slandered her in the custody battle that Arizona managed to win. She just wanted Sofia to have the best life, even if that meant they weren't always together.

Eliza held back the urge to run into the other room and tell Callie off herself and to comfort Arizona. Instead, she took off her overcoat and sat back down on the bed. She scrolled through her phone and grabbed a pair of headphones from her drawer, playing a light meditation track as she slipped the buds into her ears, laying back on the bed as she sighed in defeat.

Torres just clenched her jaw as her ex spoke, waiting for the opportunity to chime in. "Maybe I don't want my daughter around someone that thinks cheating is okay and that she can get away with it because 'things have been so hard,'" she mocked, purposefully trying to drudge up old wounds just to hurt the woman in front of her.

Arizona shook her head, gripping onto the door. "Oh, come on! How many times do we have to relive that? Do you want to relive me not being able to even look at you after you decided it was a good idea to cut my freakin' leg off?! Do you want to relive me being on the bathroom floor, soaked in my own urine because I fell and couldn't get off of the floor to sit on the toilet because of a choice you made?" Tears started to run down Arizona's face, her voice becoming hoarse. "Just leave…" the tears didn't stop. She looked over to the right, unable to look at Callie.

Seeing how much hurt they've caused each other over the years and how easily they can hurt each other again and again, Callie backed up even more and got one last look at the woman she once vowed to love for better or for worse. She turned around and walked back to her car, her head resting on the steering wheel as she began to sob.

When she heard the door shut, Eliza finally came out of the bedroom to find Arizona crying as her back slid down the door. She rushed to sit next to her, wrapping her arms around her to comfort her. She ran her hand against blonde locks, wanting to do anything and everything possible to take the woman's pain away. Arizona held onto her, sobbing into her shoulder as she gripped onto Minnick's shirt, her fist curling into a ball then releasing as she didn't know what to do with herself.

A few hours later, after countless tissue boxes were discarded, the pair laid in bed. They both laid on their sides to be facing each other, Eliza smiling as Arizona rested a hand on the woman's cheek, her thumb tracing circles on soft skin. Arizona hadn't felt so happy with anyone in a long time and she was amazed how calm she made her, even after such a rough night. "I love you too."


	3. open wounds

"Hunt!" Callie called as she saw the trauma surgeon looking at the surgery board for the day. He happily turned around and opened his arms as Torres approached him, hugging her tightly. "Torres, it's good to see you." They backed away from each other, smiling as they met eyes. "Look, our patient is having a hard time wrapping his head around your plan to repair his leg. I tried explaining it but he just shuts down when I try to talk to him," he shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. "Can you try to talk to him before we have to scrub in so he doesn't wake up in shock?"

"We really have to get started on rounds," Arizona managed to breathe out, her back pressed up against the supply closet's door, her white jacket hitting the floor as it was stripped off of her. "Just another minute," Eliza said quickly, not wanting to waste any time. Her lips hungrily met the blonde's, pulling back soon after to meet her neck instead, leaving harsh kisses down the length of it. After the shock of Callie's visit last night, Minnick and Robbins spent the majority of the night just cuddling. It had been a while since they actually did anything more than kissing and the frustration was definitely getting to both of them now; they desperately needed each other.

Eliza's hands traced under blue scrubs, her finger tips dragging along toned abs. Her teeth sank into soft skin, drawing a soft whimper from the other woman. She knew she couldn't leave any visible marks but it was hard to resist the temptation, especially when Arizona reacted like _that_. The brunette pulled off the blonde's top, her hands working to unclasp her bra before it fell to the ground, everything happening so fast that neither could really think – they could just react. Minnick kissed down Arizona's neck, peppering kisses along her collar bone before she cupped one breast in her hand, her tongue circling the other. Arizona had to place her hands on the woman's shoulders to keep herself up, moaning as Eliza got impatient and dropped down to her knees, the blonde's pants quickly dropping after.

"Mr. Danvers, this is Dr. Torres, one of the best orthopedic surgeons around," Owen spoke as the two doctors stood at the patient's bedside. Callie looked at him and saw bare bone was exposed, the skin on his leg appearing to have been sliced right off. She'd never seen any cut so deep before, even on a soldier. She swallowed the lump in her throat, shaking the man's hand as she smiled at him. "Please, call me Jeremiah."

Bzzzt. Bzzzzt. Bzzzzzzzt.

"That's new," Eliza laughed at the sound of the buzzing, kissing along Arizona's thigh, the woman's prosthetic leg never fazing her.

"Shit," Arizona replied, lightly smacking at her girlfriend's shoulder as she leaned down to pull her pants back up. Her pager was buzzing wildly, confusion on her face as she was being paged a 911 call to the trauma bay. Usually, she'd only ever get paged down there if there was an injured child or mother but those pages were always from Karev. This one was from Hunt. Her mind raced as she tried to think of why she was paged, quickly redressing herself with the help of Eliza. "I've gotta go." At that, Eliza's pager started buzzing as well, receiving the same page. "I guess we're both going then," Minnick replied.

"Torres!" Owen panicked, the room around him spinning as he saw his colleague lying on the floor. He stumbled over to her, seeing a scalpel jammed into her arm, nearly hitting an artery. A splatter of blood landed on her scrubs, Owen placing his hand on his forehead to feel a cut oozing out blood. Callie was unconscious, the patient wasn't in the room, and Hunt was about to collapse next to her. He managed to clumsily walk over to the wall, pressing the panic button and alerting the nurses, who then paged the other attendings.

Minnick and Robbins rushed down to the first floor, Arizona being the first to see what happened. She saw her ex-wife lying in a pool of blood and Owen across the room from her with blood pouring out of his head. In that moment, Callie wasn't Arizona's ex-wife; she was the mother of their child, the woman she loved, and she was someone that was going to die if someone didn't start working on her quickly. Arizona's mind flashed back to the car crash, her world feeling like it was falling apart around her. "Who did this?!" she yelled as she started crying, Eliza springing forward to wrap her arms around the blonde from behind, holding her back so she didn't get in the way of Kepner, Avery, and Grey rushing in and trying to manage the situation.

Arizona wept as Minnick kept hold of her, reminding her to breathe and telling her that it was going to be okay.

"Minnick, we need you in OR 2 to start working on Torres," Jackson yelled as they lifted Callie onto a stretcher, pushing it down the hallway. "Now!"

Eliza let go of her grip on the blonde, Arizona falling to her knees after. "Save her," was all Robbins managed to speak before the brunette nodded and ran off down the hallway to the elevator.


	4. intertwined

Everyone in the hospital heard about what happened to Callie and Owen. Amelia disappeared from the hospital since a few days after she married Owen, leaving her patients to Edwards. She was afraid to face her husband but when she heard that he was hurt, she immediately drove to the hospital. "Where is he?" Amelia said anxiously as Webber rushed to her, telling her to sit down and that she wasn't allowed near the OR. She tried to argue with him but he shut down her every attempt.

Two hours into the surgery, Minnick and Riggs struggled to keep Callie's heart rate from dropping as Minnick struggled to remove the lodged scalpel from the woman's arm without rupturing a vein. Finally, after much concentration, the scalpel was removed and Eliza began setting Callie's broken arm, setting her up for a cast. Casts were usually something an intern or resident would do but she wanted to make sure everything was perfect; she didn't want someone Arizona cared about to be hurt and she wanted to do everything she could to try to fix what she could, even if that just meant setting broken bones.

After four hours of brutal surgery, Pierce and Kepner managed to stabilize Hunt and take him up to the recovery room in the ICU. Amelia made her way up to the room, tears rolling down her cheeks as she saw the man she loved covered in cuts, gashes, and bruises. She sat on the bed with him, holding his hand as she leaned over to kiss his forehead. "I won't run this time," she spoke softly, resting with him on the bed.

Arizona sat in the Attendings lounge as she rested her head in her arms on the table, sobbing as she thought of losing Callie. They weren't on good terms by any means but that didn't take away what they were to each other – what they are to each other. The two could never repair what they once had together and although they both sometimes wonder what could have been, they're happy with the lives they have now. They were Sofia's parents and their lives would always be intertwined.

"Arizona," Eliza called as she walked into the Attendings lounge. The blonde picked her head up, sniffling as she got up and walked over to the brunette to hug her. "Hey, it's okay," Eliza said in a soothing tone as she wrapped her arms around the woman. Arizona just held onto her girlfriend for a few moments before she backed away. "Callie's fine. The surgery went great," Minnick smiled and a wave of relief came over Robbins.

Minnick understood what Torres meant to Robbins yet she never felt jealous. She knew who Arizona's heart was with now and that the best thing she could give to the blonde to help her right now was love and support.

A few hours after her surgery, a groggy Callie Torres woke up and saw Doctor Minnick filling out a chart. Minnick's eyes went from the chart to the patient, "Hey, you're okay," she put the chart down and walked to check the monitors. "You and Doctor Hunt were attacked by a patient. The patient was sedated and stabilized and Hunt is fine and recovering in the ICU." Callie vaguely remembered being attacked but she was glad everyone was okay. "I'm Doctor Minnick, by the way."


	5. everything

Two days into the recovery process, Minnick stood in the room with Callie, encouraging the patient to get up and walk around. With the doctor's help, Callie stood and was able to walk a few feet before she got tired and needed to rest again. Her injuries weren't too major but it was draining on her body nonetheless. Sitting on the bed, Torres smiled as she saw a blonde doctor in dark blue scrubs standing in the doorway.

"Calliope," Arizona smiled as she walked in the room. She hadn't visited her room at all before now as she wanted to give the woman space. Eliza's eyes brightened as she saw her girlfriend, putting on her perfect poker face as she began preparing an IV. "How are you?" Robbins asked as she laughed to herself over Minnick's awkwardness, walking to the bed to sit on the edge of it, looking down at Callie.

"Better," Torres replied. "I'm starting to get why all of the residents love Doctor Minnick so much," she said truthfully with a laugh. It was hard to like her knowing that her colleagues didn't care for her too much but it was harder not to like her when she clearly cared about the wellbeing of her patients.

Minnick finished with the IV, starting the drip. "I'll be back later to check on you," she said as she tried her best to ignore the statement her patient said. "Doctor Robbins," she said with a nod of the head before exiting the room.

Arizona's head turned to watch Eliza leave, sighing as she hadn't been able to spend much time with her recently. "She's great," the blonde turned her attention back to her ex-wife, a smile plastered on her face. Callie squinted her eyes momentarily as she read into the way Arizona responded, something seeming a bit odd to her.

Two weeks later, Torres was up and moving around normally as was Hunt. Penny came into town with Sofia since the child had a break from school and missed both of her mothers. The young girl was accepting of Penny but Arizona and Callie would always be her parents. "Mommy!" the child ran into Callie's room, jumping into the bed to hug her mom. "Mija," the brunette responded as she wrapped loving arms around her daughter, "I missed you so much."

Later on in the day, Arizona was in the food court with Sofia when Penny walked over, asking if she could sit with them. Sofia just nodded and continued eating. Penny sat down and clasped her hands on the table, unintentionally showing off a diamond ring on her ring finger. Robbins glanced down and saw the ring, nearly choking on her water when she put two and two together. Just as Arizona started to stare, her phone pinged and saved the day.

 _I'm thinking Pierogies on dessert? ;*- EM_

She shook her head and laughed a bit to herself, quickly responding to the text.

 _Does the dessert menu ever change? BTW you'll never guess who's apparently engaged…_

Eliza raised a brow as she read the text, unable to think of anyone that's seemed super happy or suspicious lately. She made a salad from the salad bar in the food court and grabbed a bottle of water before she walked over to the table the three ladies were sitting at. "Hi," Minnick smiled, her smile brightening as she got to meet Arizona's daughter for the first time.

"El—Doctor Minnick, sit down," Robbins smiled at her as Eliza obliged and took a seat next to Penny. She looked over at her daughter then back at Eliza, "this is one of mommy's doctors." Sofia didn't seem to care too much. "Hi," she responded.

Penny looked over at the woman next to her, "I'm Penny, Callie's partner," she reached her left hand out to shake the doctor's hand. Minnick shook her hand, her eyes catching the glare of the diamond ring on the woman's finger. "It's nice to meet you," the dark haired woman responded, swallowing a lump in her throat as she took her hand back and turned her attention to the blonde sitting across from her.

"Doctor Robbins, did you get the email from Chief Bailey today?" Eliza made up an excuse to allow both of them to be on their phones without it seeming too suspicious. Minnick was the first to send a text.

 _Oh my god?! - EM_

Arizona shook her head no, pulling out her phone. "Let me double check."

 _I know!_

 _You okay? - EM_

 _As long as I have you – always._

Arizona put her phone away, followed by Eliza doing the same. Sofia reached over and tugged on Arizona's lab coat, "mommy, can I have more blueberries?" All three of the women laughed at how serious the girl sounded about wanting more fruit. "Anything for you, my dear," the blonde scrunched her nose up as she looked at her child, standing up and walking over to the food bar. She glanced back to see Penny talking to Eliza, then Eliza nodding and Penny getting up and walking towards the bathroom. She filled a small bowl with blueberries before glancing back again, seeing her girlfriend telling a story to an amused Sofia. In that moment, Arizona swore she had everything.


	6. the good place

Arizona lingered outside of Callie's hospital room, chewing on her lip nervously as she thought of what she should say. Should she ask about the ring Penny was wearing? Obviously it meant an engagement, right? Was it even her place to ask? "Of course I'm allowed to ask, it effects my daughter after all…" the blonde thought to herself. Just as she was about to chew a hole right through her lip, a voice saved her.

"Arizona," Callie called out with a laugh as she noticed the woman outside of her room. "Stop standing there like a nervous intern and come in," she sat up on her bed. She'd been out exercising all day by walking the halls so sitting up was a little harder than usual. "What's going on?"

Arizona came in and stood by the side of the bed. She waited a moment. And then another moment. And then…

"Ariz-" Callie started, trying to snap the woman out of it.

"It's none of my business but.." she caught herself, "actually, it is my business. We have a child together and it's our responsibility to tell each other when big life events happen so we're in the know and so that **we** ," she motioned between the two of them, "are good so that we can be good for Sofia." Callie looked at her with a confused look on her face. "I saw the ring."

"What?" Callie asked, not a clue what Robbins was talking about.

The blonde rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "Penny's ring. On her ring finger. The finger you usually put a ring on when you're engaged to someone."

Callie laughed, wincing in pain when the force of her laughter hurt her sore ribs. "Yeah, her fiancé proposed to her last week." Arizona's eyes grew wide, her posture loosening a bit. "I didn't tell you because…" she shrugged her shoulders. "I guess I just didn't think it was that big of a deal when Penny and I broke up." She laughed, "And since I never told you that part, it would be a little weird to tell you that she got engaged to someone else."

"But why.. why is she here then?"

"She was the closest and only person available to bring Sofia up here. When she saw how injured I was, she decided to stay for a while. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I just didn't feel like talking about an ex with my ex."

Arizona sighed before walking over to the bed to sit on the edge of it. Callie moved over so they could both fit more easily. Arizona scooted closer and the two just started to laugh.

"Did you really think I would actually marry Penny?" Callie looked at Arizona, her eyebrow raised.

"I hoped not." They started laughing again.

They were in a good place.


End file.
